Why So Bitter?

Comparing "The Taming Of The Shrew" to "Deliver Us From Eva"

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the evilest upon them all? Katherine is, according to the men of Padua in the novel, “The Taming Of The Shrew”. Violent and quick-tempered, Katherine's resentful ways makes her unable to marry which in return, leaves her lonesome and bitter. Petruchio, a young man from Verona with the intentions of marrying a rich woman, tells Katherine that he is going to marry her. The reluctant Kate soon gives into marrying him but still remains her own bitter self. In the 2003 movie "Deliver Us From Eva" The main character Eva finds herself in the same situation. Eva's sour attitude drives the people close to her to believe she is bitter because she is lonely. The men in the movie believe she is alone because she is bitter. The smooth ladies man, Ray, persuades Eva into dating him. She was unwilling at first but soon agreed to date him and still remained uptight. In the end, both women were enlightened and both changed their beliefs on Love and relationships because of the new men in their life. These two situations display how society ideas on courtship/dating has not changed over centuries. Both of these texts reveal the social belief that women need men to make them happy.


"I must dance barefoot on her wedding day
And, for your love to her, lead apes in hell.Talk not to me. I will go sit and weepTill I can find occasion of revenge."

In this quote, Katherine is speaking to her father Baptisa about her sister getting married before her.
The point she makes of her not finding love, she then says she will go "sit and weep"

(Act II, Scene I, 36-39)

Eva's friends have the same views as Katherine when they tell her that she will not have
joyfulness without a man.

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In this scene from the movie "Deliver Us From Eva", Eva and her friends / sisters were having a girl's night out
in the hair salone. In between the gossiping, the women were trying to convince Eva that a man is something she needs to
be happy. They speak of men as a necessity in a women's life to bring them happiness.

" I am asham'd that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace; "
(Act V, Scene II, 170-172)

In this quote, Katherine gives a harangue to the wives of the other men on the subject of "appreciating" their men
and how great her husband is. From insulting and degrading men to not offering war and kneeling for "peace", Katherine reveals
to all that her views for men has changed in a positive way.

Eva faces the same transformation in the movie.

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In this scene of the movie "Deliver Us From Eva", Eva is explaining her night with Ray to the girls in the
hair salone. This part of the movie unravels the transformation of her from the result of her dating men.
In the novel "The Taming Of The Shrew", Katherine also has her spotlight to reveal her changed attitude towards men at the
end of the book.


The way these women changed their attitudes after finding love contributes to the belief that in order for a woman to be happy, they must have a male companion in their life. Both Katherine and Eva end their stories with them enlightened as if the men they were dealing with showed them the way to happier life. Both women started bitter in the beginning but ends up content and satisfied with their men. The drastic changes enforces the idea on modern audiences that the key to happiness, is love.